Mariana scowled.
“Right,” Dira said, nodding. “Sometimes Traren hates everyone and everything. Don’t give it another thought.”
“There,” Hamneth said. “Finished.” He handed some soiled rags to Dira, who put them in a basket to carry to the fire.
The medic went to the sink to wash his hands. “Traren can be an insensitive lout, but he has a point about your hand. I did what I can, and I think it should heal just fine, but I would sleep better knowing you had a real doctor look at it.”
Mariana bit her lip. “I might be able to convince Kylan to look at your hand. That is, if my Father lets me back into the palace.”
“He wouldn’t keep you out, would he?” Dira asked. “He’s your father, regardless of what else happened.”
“It doesn’t matter what the King would or wouldn’t do.” Orlando stood up and brushed some stray herb leaves off his pants. “I’m not going to the palace and neither is Mariana. We don’t need this Kylan fellow either. Hamneth is doctor enough for me.”
“I appreciate that, Lando, but…”
“No buts.” Orlando kissed Mariana’s head. “Listen, Mari, I need to go after Traren and see what’s bothering him. Can you stay with Dira today?”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Orlando. I can find my own way home.” She stood up. “In fact, I was going to go bake some bread today.” She lifted her chin a bit higher. He didn’t need to know she didn’t know the first thing about bread baking. She was just tired of him acting like she was a child.
“Oh.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise and glanced at his sister, who kept her expression neutral. “Fine, then. I’ll leave you to that.” He kissed her cheek. “I look forward to having some when I get home.”
“Fine.” Mariana crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head.
As he left the house, he scowled but said nothing.
“I guess we’d better get to your house and get that bread started,” Adindira said, laughing. “Unless you’ve been taking baking lessons from someone else.”
Mariana let her shoulders slump. “I don’t know why I said that. What am I going to do?”
“No. It was exactly what my brother needed to hear. He never gives any thought to what women do all day. He’s like most men that way. My father never quite understood how my mother kept herself busy all day when he was at work in the copper mine.”
Adindira’s words sparked something in Mariana’s mind. “How is it you never tasted Betatlina’s bread until the other day?” she asked. “Orlando told me she was his father’s housekeeper.”
Dira had been wiping down the table where Hamneth had worked on Orlando’s hand, but she froze at Mariana’s question. She kept her eyes on the cloth in her hand, and her mouth worked as though she were trying to think of the right words to say, but nothing came out.
The long silence was finally broken by a knock on the door.
“That’s probably Orlando,” Adindira said in obvious relief. “He must have forgotten something.” She threw her cloth in the wash tub and hurried to the door.
Mariana scowled in confusion. Why hadn’t Dira answered the question? Surely, the explanation had to be a simple one, but Mariana couldn’t figure out what it was. If Betatlina had baked bread in their home when Orlando was a child, surely his sister would have eaten some.
“Oh, Sahdess Geindara,” Adindira said from the front door. “This is a surprise. Please come in.”
“Oh, please call me Lady Honoria. I do hope I’m not troubling you.” An older, elegant woman stepped into the house. Her white hair was piled on her head in soft curls under a spring-green satin veil embroidered with darker green leaves. Her long-sleeved linen dress was the same color as that stitching, and similar leaves were appliqued onto the neckline and sleeve hems. These decorations were in autumn hues, but subtle. The whole effect reminded Mariana of a forest just as the seasons were beginning to change.
This woman was a Flora Sensitive. Of that, Mariana was certain. She was just as certain they’d never met before. That was more curious than that the Sahdess was in Adindira’s home.
“Sahdess Geindara, may I present my sister-in-law, Mariana the Progenna of Valborough?”
The introduction sounded awkward to Mariana’s ears, but as far as protocol was concerned, it was precisely appropriate. Mariana might be the King’s daughter, but in Valborough, this Sahdess would have a greater claim to the throne; therefore, it was up to Mariana to be presented first.
How did Adindira know this? And, as long as Mariana was pondering curious ideas, how did Orlando’s sister know the Sahdess?
The Sahdess dropped into a deeper curtsy than Mariana had expected, and she mentally shook herself, returning the gesture.
When they had both arisen, Dira asked, “May I get you something to drink? I have some cider made from your apples.”
Lady Honoria tilted her head in thanks.
“I’m glad you could find some use for them. I know with a family of growing boys, keeping food in the house must be a trial.”
“Please, come in and have a seat.” Dira hurried to clear a space on the couch and plump the cushions.
The visitor followed her through the house to the living room. “I just came to see the Progenna.” She sat and waited for Mariana, who walked cautiously to take a seat across the room.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”
“Indeed, we haven’t.” The Sahdess smiled. “I’m not fond of the capital city, although my husband has much business there. I prefer to stay here and tend my fruit orchards and gardens. I am Honoria Geindara, wife of Andreas, Sahdeer of Geindara.” She watched Mariana as though waiting for recognition.
Unfortunately, Mariana didn’t know what to say to this other than what courtesy demanded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Now Lady Honoria glanced over Mariana’s head to Adindira for a moment, then focused again on Mariana. “My husband and I are planning a banquet and ball tomorrow night as part of the Eltano Cup celebrations. I realize this is last minute, and I apologize for this, but it just recently came to my attention that none of the nobility in the area have received you and your husband, officially. I would like to do that for you.”
Mariana didn’t know what to say. She wanted to fit in with the people of the village, and she was certain they didn’t have nobles throwing them wedding receptions.
“She would love that,” Adindira said into the growing silence. “Orlando was talking about wanting to go to some of the Eltano Cup parties. None of us have ever experienced them, not being nobility, but now that the Progenna is one of us…” She let her voice trail off as though the rest of the sentence was obvious.
“It’s settled then.” The Sahdess stood. “The theme of the party will be ‘Fruit and Flowers.’ If you wouldn’t mind, Progenna, I’ll send my lady’s maid with a dozen dresses for you to choose from. Your lovely sister-in-law and her husband are also welcome to attend.”
Mariana glanced at Adindira, who had clasped her hands at her chest and was biting her lip to hold back a grin. Clearly, she’d never been invited to a party like this and wanted Mariana to accept for her.
“Of course, Sahdess. That’s very kind of you.”
“Not at all, and please call me Honoria. I’m sure we’re going to be great friends.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Mariana,” Adindira exclaimed. “You look beautiful.”
The two women were in Honoria’s guest apartment, a small set of rooms on the third floor of the Geindaras’ estate about three miles on the other side of Talla from the palace. Mariana had never been here before, but Honoria had invited them to get ready for the party at the house so they wouldn’t have to travel that distance and risk getting their clothing dusty.
“It’s a lovely gown, isn’t it?” Mariana admired the lavender and white satin dress in the huge mirror that made up half the wall in the guest dressing room. “It was kind
of Honoria to let us pick out whatever we wanted from her own closet, wasn’t it?”
Adindira glanced down at her own dark blue and green taffeta skirt and the lace-trimmed bodice. “I’ve never worn anything this fancy in my life.” She spun around, revealing the silver slippers on her feet. “I don’t know how comfortable I’ll be trying to dance in this, though.”
Mariana grinned. Her sister-in-law was more elegant and noble than many of the young women she’d seen at the royal balls. Adindira’s brown hair was piled on top of her head in a mass of soft curls, embellished with sparkling gems peeking out from amongst the strands.
“You look like a princess,” Mariana said.
“Well, I may look like one, but I don’t feel like one.” Dira dropped onto the bed in a cloud of green and blue fabric. “I feel like one of Lando’s pigs all wrapped up in silk.”
“Oh.” Mariana went over to the bed and sat down beside her friend. “Why would you say that? Don’t you know you’re lovely? Elnys certainly thinks so.”
Dira shook her head. “Oh, I know that, but me? At an Eltano Cup ball? It doesn’t make sense. This isn’t my world. It might have been Orlan…” She stopped abruptly and jumped up to look at herself in the mirror. “I just can’t believe this is one of the dresses she was going to give away.” Turning back and forth to see herself from all sides, she tsked. “It’s so pretty.”
“And quite out of style,” Mariana said, joining her in the reflection. “No one will notice tonight at the ball, though. Many of the noble ladies tend to wear their old gowns for the first two or three parties, not bringing out their new stuff until the actual races.”
Adindira met her eyes in the mirror. “Your world has a lot of rules, doesn’t it?”
Mariana took a deep breath. “Not my world anymore. I’m a pig farmer’s wife now, remember?”
“Then what are we doing here?” Dira lifted her hands as though holding the room and all its opulent furnishings. “We could get our men and get out of here, you know. Just because the Sahdess of Geindara invited us to her party doesn’t mean we have to go.”
“No. I suppose it doesn’t.” Mariana sat down at the dressing table, trying to wipe the images of her sisters and brother arriving downstairs in their finery from her mind. Ever since the Sahdess had invited them to this gala event, she’d fantasized about greeting Ramone and Victoria as a married woman, one who didn’t have to rely on her lack of Sensitivities for her identity.
“This party is important to you, isn’t it?” Adindira dropped to her knees next to Mariana’s chair. “You must miss all the folderol of your former life.”
To Mariana’s shock, tears welled up in her eyes. She swallowed and blinked to make them go away, but only managed to cause them to fall. With a frustrated wipe of her hand, she brushed them away.
“I know it’s silly,” she said, “and I shouldn’t care, but it was fun dancing and flirting with young men, even if I knew, in the back of my mind, if I were honest, they’d never want to marry me.” She picked up a silver-handled hairbrush from the table and turned it over and over in her hand.
“I had this fantasy,” she went on, “that some handsome son of a Sahdess or a Margrave would fall madly in love with me and wouldn’t care about my lack of Elemental Abilities.” She sighed. “I wouldn’t even care if it were a second son or lower, but I was lying to myself. The Elements and Sensitivities are everything, and I didn’t have anything to give to a man like that.”
A few seconds of silence hung between the two women, during which Mariana kept her focus on the ornate hairbrush, not daring to look at Adindira. How could a commoner with no magical abilities understand what she’d gone through her whole life?
“My brother doesn’t care about the Elements or Sensitivities,” Dira said, her voice soft with an edge of hurt to it. “I think he believes you have something to offer to the right man.”
Now Mariana glanced at her sister-in-law. “You know we’re not married the way you and Elnys are.”
“If you mean you didn’t love one another before you were wed, neither did we.”
“What?”
Adindira stood and walked to the mirror again. “Elnys and I weren’t in love when we got married either, so you’re not exactly unique.”
“I don’t understand,” Mariana said. “You certainly seem to love each other now.”
“Oh, now we do.” Adindira shrugged. “We just didn’t at first. In fact, to be honest, I thought he was an annoying brat who didn’t have a brain in his head.”
“So why marry him then?”
“His father’s farm was next to ours. That’s how I knew him, actually. I was the only daughter and his parents had six boys. The only way we could combine the property was if I married one of them.
“The older two boys were already set to marry girls from another village. One of them lives in Waltham and owns a carpentry shop he runs with his wife’s father and brothers. The second son married a shipwright’s daughter and became an apprentice. They eventually moved to Heyton and he runs his own shipyard.”
Adindira faced Mariana. “The idea of marrying strictly for love is not one most commoners can think about. Love is for the nobility and royalty who don’t have to think about where their food is going to come from.”
Mariana shook her head. “No. That’s not right. The nobility and royalty have to marry for political reasons and to make sure the Sensitivities match or complement each other. Most of the nobility I know had marriages arranged for them the moment their Abilities manifested.” She shrugged. “Flora Sensitives often marry Water Sensitives to ensure good crops, or Fire and Metal Sensitives wed to provide strong weapons for the military.”
Adindira laughed. “I always imagined beautiful Princesses were surrounded by adoring young noblemen who vied for their hands. When I was a girl, I would sit behind the barn and dream of a handsome knight falling in love with me at first sight.” She clasped her hands to her chest and rolled her eyes to the ceiling as if in a cloud of pink romantic visions.
“He would try to win my heart with some grand gesture, like saving me from a horrid monster or filling my bedroom with roses from the royal gardens.”
Mariana grinned. “Royal gardens?”
Adindira shrugged. “What did I know at twelve years old? I just knew beautiful Princesses and handsome knights were supposed to ride off together with a love that lasted throughout all of time.”
She let out a dreamy sigh and dropped into the cushions of a soft loveseat under a window. “Life isn’t exactly like that for anyone, I guess.”
“It was for Ramone,” Mariana said softly, “but even his marriage was arranged for him when he was a child. I love my brother dearly, but he is always proper and organized. I think once Father told him he was to marry Victoria when they were older, he knew this was the woman he was to love, and he set about making that happen.”
Adindira scowled. “You mean, he made himself fall in love with her?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘he made himself.’ I just don’t think he gave any other girl a thought. Victoria’s father is high in Father’s court, one of his most important advisors, so the family was always part of our lives. Ramone saw Victoria often, and eventually, every day when they began attending protocol classes together. Then, as each is the firstborn and heir to their respective families, they started going to charity events together, and after a while, everyone knew they were courting and would one day get married.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think there was ever a day when Ram went to Victoria and actually asked her if she wanted to spend time with him.” She shrugged. “They just were together.”
“And they love one another?” Dira leaned forward as though she was deeply interested in the answer.
“Very much. I don’t think I’ve ever known another couple who seemed so completely devoted to each other. It’s like they are literally two halves of the same person.”
“Exactly.” Dira leaned back, a
smile of triumph on her face.
“Exactly what?”
“That’s how Elnys and I feel. Now. It took us a couple of years to get to know each other and start to like each other. I know I didn’t even like him much on our wedding day.” A blush crept up her face and she grinned. “He was so handsome in his father’s good worship suit, and his hair was still wet from when his mother made him wash it twice to make sure there weren’t any bugs or mud in it.”
Mariana shuddered at that thought, and Dira giggled.
“It seems so ridiculous now, but back then, he bathed only if he happened to fall into a pond or river. I know his mother sometimes dumped a bucket of water over his head if she caught him sitting under a window, just to try to get some of the filth off of him. He was too interested in hanging out in the barn with the cows and horses to worry about how he smelled.
“But that morning, when he came to my parents’ house to walk me to the church, I think my heart jumped a little. I could see what he looked like when he cleaned himself up, and it wasn’t too bad. I walked with him, thinking maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible being married to him.”
Mariana listened to this, thinking about her relationship with Orlando. Their start hadn’t been so rocky, but she still couldn’t imagine the rest of her life with him. She barely knew him.
“Was Orlando at your wedding?”
Dira chuckled. “He’s the one who led me to Elnys’s side outside the house. My father was dead by then, and with Orlando being the eldest of my mother’s sons, it made sense. He and Elnys weren’t quite friends yet, and Elnys was a little intimidated by him.”
“Why?”
Adindira blinked as though she’d forgotten where they were. “Um, Orlando was the oldest of the boys, I guess. Elnys is closer in age to my brother Godfrey, who lives in Dalkey now with his wife and five daughters. I guess he just didn’t know Orlando as well.”
She stood and brushed off her skirts. “I suppose we should find our men. They’ll be wondering what’s taking us so long.”
Pigsty Princess Page 24
